Law / United States / North Carolina

North Carolina

10 of 15 named instruments researched to a stage, across five of the ten areas of law we track: 9 in force and 1 proposed. As of .

When each starts8 of 10 carry a date, 2 do not. Earlier is before 2014.
Before 2014: 3 instruments (3 in force) earlier 2014: 0 instruments 2015: 0 instruments ’15 2016: 0 instruments 2017: 0 instruments 2018: 0 instruments 2019: 1 instrument (1 in force) 2020: 0 instruments ’20 2021: 1 instrument (1 in force) 2022: 0 instruments 2023: 0 instruments 2024: 2 instruments (2 in force) 2025: 1 instrument (1 in force) 2026: 0 instruments ’26 today

in forcenot yet in forceblocked by a courtproposedno longer in force

  1. AI law 1
  2. Privacy law 1
  3. Scraping law 1
  4. Cybersecurity law 4
  5. Communications law not researched
  6. Content moderation law not researched
  7. Product and AI liability law not researched
  8. Digital accessibility law not researched
  9. Age gating law 3
  10. Reuse law

AI law1 instrument, 1 in force

Research summary (169 words)

North Carolina has not enacted a general-purpose AI-transparency, output-labeling, or risk-management statute; the state's only enacted AI-specific instrument criminalizes conduct rather than requiring disclosure.

Session Law 2024-37 (House Bill 591) amended North Carolina's disclosure-of-private-images and sexual-exploitation-of-a-minor statutes so that a realistic image created, adapted, or modified using artificial intelligence is treated the same as a real photograph, reaching AI-generated nonconsensual intimate images and AI-generated child sexual abuse material as criminal offenses binding any person.

Governor Stein's Executive Order No. 24 () establishes a state AI Leadership Council and an AI Accelerator and directs state agencies on their own use of artificial intelligence, but by its own terms imposes no obligations on private entities, so it is recorded here as context rather than as an instrument.

Four AI-specific bills remained in committee as of the date shown, none having passed either chamber: House Bill 1161 (omnibus AI protections), House Bill 375 (AI and synthetic media disclosure), and companion Senate Bills 624 and 963 (AI chatbot licensing and safety).

AI prohibited practices

AI-Generated Intimate Images and Child Sexual Abuse Material (Session Law 2024-37, HB 591)

N.C. Sess. Law 2024-37 (H.B. 591); N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 14-190.5A, 14-190.13official text, North Carolina General Assembly (ncleg.gov), General Statutes by section, and Session Law 2024-37

In force since . Binds public and private bodies.

What this law does

Session Law 2024-37 (House Bill 591), effective , amended section 14-190.5A, disclosure of private images, and section 14-190.13, the shared definitions section for North Carolina's sexual-exploitation-of-a-minor offenses, so that 'image' and 'material' each include a realistic visual depiction created, adapted, or modified by technological means, including algorithms or artificial intelligence, such that a reasonable person would believe it depicts an identifiable person.

Under section 14-190.5A as amended, a person who knowingly discloses such a depiction of an identifiable adult without consent, with intent to coerce, harass, intimidate, demean, humiliate, or cause financial loss, commits disclosure of private images, a Class H felony for an adult offender, and the depicted person may also bring a civil action for liquidated damages of at least the higher of one thousand dollars per day of violation or ten thousand dollars, plus punitive damages and attorneys' fees.

Section 14-190.13's amended definition of material extends North Carolina's existing first, second, and third degree sexual exploitation of a minor offenses to reach AI-generated child sexual abuse material on the same terms as a photograph, without itself restating those offenses' own penalties.

What it requires

Privacy law1 instrument, 1 in force

Research summary (185 words)

North Carolina has no comprehensive consumer personal-data-protection statute. The marquee candidate, House Bill 462 (the NC Personal Data Privacy Act), remains in House committee with no floor vote in either chamber. North Carolina's operative privacy statute is the Identity Theft Protection Act's breach notification duty, N.C. Gen. Stat. Secs. 75-61 and 75-65 (Chapter 75, Article 2A), which sets no numeric notification deadline, requiring only notice without unreasonable delay.

The Act's personal information definition incorporates identifying information by cross-reference to North Carolina's criminal identity-theft statute, G.S. Sec. 14-113.20(b), which lists biometric data as one of fourteen enumerated items, but no North Carolina statute anywhere defines what the term means; it is used but never defined, so whether it excludes or reaches an identifier derived from a recording cannot be determined either way.

A 2025 amendment, Session Law 2025-25, confirmed that a breach-notice violation is a violation of North Carolina's general Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, arming an individual injured by the violation with a private civil action for treble damages under G.S. Sec. 75-16, though the injury requirement is written into the deeming clause itself.

Breach notification

Identity Theft Protection Act, security breach notification

N.C. Gen. Stat. Secs. 75-61, 75-65official North Carolina statute text, General Statutes Chapter 75, Article 2A

In force. Binds public and private bodies.

What this law does

Any business that owns or licenses personal information of a North Carolina resident, or that conducts business in North Carolina and owns or licenses such information in any form, must give notice of a security breach to the affected person without unreasonable delay, consistent with the legitimate needs of law enforcement; the statute sets no numeric notification deadline.

Business is defined narrowly as a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other group, whether or not organized for profit, and the definition excludes any government or governmental subdivision or agency.

A separate provision, section 132-1.10(c1) of the General Statutes, requires an agency of the State or its political subdivisions, or any agent or employee of a government agency, that experiences a security breach to comply with the requirements of section 75-65, the breach-notice section.

Personal information is a name combined with identifying information as cross-referenced from North Carolina's criminal identity-theft statute, G.S. Sec. 14-113.20(b), which lists biometric data as one of fourteen enumerated items alongside a Social Security number, a driver's license number, and financial account numbers, but no North Carolina statute anywhere defines what biometric data means for this purpose; the term is used but never defined.

Personal information excludes information a person voluntarily consented to have publicly disseminated and information made lawfully available to the general public from government records, but because biometric data is an undefined cross-referenced term, whether this carve-out would reach an identifier derived from a public recording cannot be evaluated.

A business must also notify the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General's Office on every breach requiring notice to any affected person, and separately, on any breach affecting more than 1,000 persons at one time, must notify nationwide consumer reporting agencies.

A violation of the notice duty is a violation of North Carolina's general Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, G.S. Sec. 75-1.1, but an individual may not sue for that violation unless injured by it; once that injury threshold is met, G.S. Sec. 75-16 arms the injured person with a civil action for treble damages. Most recently amended by Session Law 2025-25. The provisions this entry describes came into force on different days.

What it requires

Scraping law1 instrument, 1 in force

Research summary (85 words)

North Carolina's divergence from the federal baseline runs through its computer-related crime statute, Article 60 of Chapter 14, which defines authorization by reference to the computer owner's actual consent and separately criminalizes making an unauthorized copy of computer data as computer trespass, backed by a private civil action for damages including lost profits. Copyright, text-and-data-mining, and database rights are federal only; North Carolina adds nothing there.

Terms-of-service enforceability rests on ordinary North Carolina contract law, and robots.txt carries no independent legal weight in North Carolina.

Computer misuse

North Carolina Computer-Related Crime Act (unauthorized access and computer trespass)

N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 14-453 to 14-458; § 1-539.2Aofficial text, North Carolina General Assembly (ncleg.gov), General Statutes by section

In force since . Binds public and private bodies.

What this law does

North Carolina's computer-related crime statute, Article 60 of Chapter 14, defines authorization by reference to the computer owner's consent, not exceeding the scope of that consent, a standard closer to the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act's without-authorization and exceeds-authorized-access tests than to Virginia's narrower malicious-intent-or-deception requirement.

Computer trespass under section 14-458 makes it unlawful to use a computer or computer network without authority and with intent to make an unauthorized copy of computer data, programs, or software residing in, communicated by, or produced by a computer or network, reaching unauthorized automated copying of data from a website. A violation is a Class 3 misdemeanor, rising to a Class 1 misdemeanor or a Class I felony depending on the dollar value of resulting property damage.

A separate offense, section 14-454, criminalizes accessing a computer without authorization to defraud or to obtain property or services by false pretenses, as a Class 1 misdemeanor or a Class G felony depending on the value obtained. Accessing a government computer without authorization for any other purpose is a Class H felony under section 14-454.1, rising above the analogous private-computer offense's misdemeanor default.

Anyone injured by a violation of the computer trespass statute may bring a private civil action for damages, including lost profits, under section 1-539.2A.

What it requires

Cybersecurity law4 instruments, 4 in force

Research summary (728 words)

North Carolina's product-security and cyber-resilience posture, for a private-sector operator, rests on the insurance licensee safeguards program of G.S. 58-39-145 and 58-39-150 (filed as a row of its own) and one general statute with a narrow scope: the Identity Theft Protection Act's destruction-of-records duty, N.C. Gen. Stat. section 75-64 (Chapter 75, Article 2A, added by S.L. 2005-414, s. 1, effective ), which requires any business that conducts business in North Carolina, or that maintains or otherwise possesses the personal information of a North Carolina resident, to take reasonable measures, described in the statute as burning, pulverizing, or shredding paper records and destroying or erasing electronic and other nonpaper media, to protect against unauthorized access to or use of personal information in connection with or after its disposal.

The duty reaches only the disposal phase; it does not extend, the way New York's SHIELD Act safeguards duty or Massachusetts's 201 CMR 17.00 do, to a general written information-security-program requirement for personal information while it remains in active use, and no such general requirement was located in North Carolina law. No enacted North Carolina statute was located that sets security requirements a connected device or software product must meet before or after it reaches the market.

North Carolina has no general private-sector duty to report an exploited vulnerability or a security incident to an authority: the state's Ransomware Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. section 143-800 (Chapter 143, Article 84, added by S.L. 2021-180, s. 38.13(a)), bars a state agency or local government entity from paying or communicating with a ransomware attacker and requires either to consult the Department of Information Technology on a ransom request, but both bound terms are defined to reach only government bodies, and it is filed as a row of its own with no activity flag.

The state's one sector-specific security regime, N.C. Gen. Stat. sections 58-39-130 to 58-39-165 (Chapter 58, Article 39, Part 3, "Customer Information Safeguards," added by S.L. 2003-262, s. 4, effective ), implements the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act's safeguards requirements for the insurance sector, requiring each "licensee," an insurance producer, insurer, multiple employer welfare arrangement, HMO, or Chapter 58 service corporation, to implement a comprehensive written information security program with administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to its size and complexity and the nature and scope of its activities.

North Carolina has not separately adopted the newer NAIC Insurance Data Security Model Law: a full-text search of Chapter 58's own section index for "cybersecurity" and "data security" returned nothing outside this 2003 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)-based Part.

G.S. 75-64 is enforced as a deemed violation of the state's general unfair-or-deceptive-trade-practices statute, G.S. 75-1.1: a person injured by a violation may bring a civil action under G.S. 75-16 for treble the damages found, with treble damages for a nonmanagerial employee's own acts or omissions available only where the business was negligent in training, supervising, or monitoring that employee, and the Attorney General may separately sue to enjoin a violation.

A private plaintiff recovers trebled actual damages under G.S. 75-16, and the Attorney General may seek a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each knowing violation under G.S. 75-15.2.

North Carolina's breach-notification duty, the Identity Theft Protection Act's G.S. 75-65, is already this jurisdiction's privacy row rather than repeated here, and a narrower, adjacent duty at G.S. 75-62(c), requiring a business handling social security numbers to make reasonable efforts, including systems testing, to ensure that Article's SSN-protection requirements are implemented, also stays with that privacy row rather than being filed separately here.

Section 58-39-145 of the General Statutes requires each licensee, meaning an insurance producer, insurer, MEWA, HMO, or service corporation governed by Chapter 58, to implement a comprehensive written information security program that includes administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for the protection of customer information.

Section 143B-1379 of the General Statutes requires the head of each principal department and Council of State agency to provide the Department of Information Technology the full details of all of the agency's significant cybersecurity incidents within 24 hours of confirmation. Section 143B-1379 also requires local government entities to report cybersecurity incidents to the Department of Information Technology.

Section 143-800 of the General Statutes bars a State agency or local government entity from submitting payment to, or otherwise communicating with, an entity that has encrypted data and then offered to decrypt it in exchange for a ransom payment.

Sector security regimes

Customer Information Safeguards Act, insurance licensee information security program

N.C. Gen. Stat. sections 58-39-145 and 58-39-150 (Chapter 58, Article 39, Part 3)Official statute text, North Carolina General Statutes, Chapter 58, Article 39 (Consumer and Customer Information Privacy)

In force since . Binds private bodies.

What this law does

Each licensee must implement a comprehensive written information security program that includes administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for the protection of customer information, appropriate to the size and complexity of the licensee and the nature and scope of its activities.

The program must be designed to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer information, protect against any anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of the information, and protect against unauthorized access to or use of the information that could result in substantial harm or inconvenience to any customer.

A licensee is any producer, insurer, MEWA, HMO, or service corporation governed by Chapter 58, and does not include an insurance-support organization, a surplus lines insurer or licensee under Article 21, or a natural-person licensee operating within the scope of employment by or affiliation with an insurer or producer. Customer information is nonpublic personal information about a customer, who is an applicant with or policyholder of a licensee.

The Part states its purpose as establishing standards for administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the security, confidentiality, and integrity of customer information, as required by sections 501, 505(b), and 507 of the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. A violation of section 58-39-145 or section 58-39-150 subjects the violator to Part 2 of the Article. Each licensee was required to establish its program by .

What it requires

Security baseline statutes

Identity Theft Protection Act, destruction of personal information records

N.C. Gen. Stat. section 75-64 (Chapter 75, Article 2A, added by S.L. 2005-414, s. 1)Official statute text, North Carolina General Statutes, Chapter 75, Article 2A (Identity Theft Protection Act)

In force since . Binds private bodies.

What this law does

Any business that conducts business in North Carolina, or that maintains or otherwise possesses the personal information of a North Carolina resident, must take reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to or use of that information in connection with or after its disposal.

Required measures include burning, pulverizing, or shredding paper records so the information cannot practicably be read or reconstructed, and destroying or erasing electronic and other nonpaper media the same way. "Business" excludes any government or governmental subdivision or agency.

The duty also does not apply to a bank or financial institution already complying with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant health insurer or health care facility, or a consumer reporting agency already complying with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. A violation is a deemed violation of G.S. 75-1.1, enforceable by a person injured under G.S. 75-16 for treble damages or by the Attorney General to enjoin the violation.

What it requires

Vulnerability and incident reporting

Cybersecurity incident reporting by State agencies and local government entities to the Department of Information Technology

N.C. Gen. Stat. section 143B-1379Official statute text, North Carolina General Statutes, Chapter 143B, Article 15 (Department of Information Technology)

In force since . Binds government bodies.

What this law does

The head of each principal department and Council of State agency must provide the Department of Information Technology the full details of all of the agency's significant cybersecurity incidents within 24 hours of confirmation. Local government entities, as defined in section 143-800(c)(1), must report cybersecurity incidents to the Department.

A local government entity is a local political subdivision of the State, including a city, a county, a local school administrative unit, or a community college. Private sector entities are encouraged to report cybersecurity incidents to the Department.

A significant cybersecurity incident is a cybersecurity incident that is likely to result in demonstrable harm to the State's security interests, economy, critical infrastructure, or to the public confidence, civil liberties, or public health and safety of the residents of North Carolina.

What it requires

Ransomware payments by State agencies and local government entities

N.C. Gen. Stat. section 143-800Official statute text, North Carolina General Statutes, Chapter 143, Article 84 (Various Technology Regulations)

In force since . Binds government bodies.

What this law does

A State agency or local government entity may not submit payment to, or otherwise communicate with, an entity that has engaged in a cybersecurity incident on an information technology system by encrypting data and then subsequently offering to decrypt that data in exchange for a ransom payment. A State agency or local government entity experiencing a ransom request in connection with a cybersecurity incident must consult the Department of Information Technology.

A State agency is any agency, department, institution, board, commission, committee, division, bureau, officer, official, or other entity of the executive, judicial, or legislative branches of State government, and includes The University of North Carolina.

What it requires

Age gating law3 instruments, 2 in force, 1 proposed

Research summary (113 words)

North Carolina has two in-effect adult content laws. The PAVE Act, enacted in 2023, requires websites with substantial harmful-to-minors content to age-verify visitors and is enforced only through private civil suits. House Bill 805, enacted over the Governor's veto in July 2025, requires pornography platforms to verify the age and written consent of every individual depicted and honor removal requests, effective .

A separate social media minor-access bill, House Bill 301, passed the House in 2025 and the Senate in 2026 in different forms and went to a House-Senate conference committee in late June 2026. No app store or design code law has been enacted or advanced past a single chamber.

Adult content age verification (AV)

HB 8, Pornography Age Verification Enforcement (PAVE) Act

N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 66, art. 51, sections 66-500 to 66-501 (Session Law 2023-132)official session law text

In force since . Binds private bodies.

What this law does

Commercial entities that knowingly publish or distribute material harmful to minors from a website where more than one third of the content meets that definition must verify that visitors are 18 or older using a commercial database or another commercially reasonable method. Providers may not retain identifying information after access is granted, and enforcement is solely through private civil suits by parents, guardians, or affected individuals.

What it requires

HB 805, Prevent Sexual Exploitation of Women and Minors Act

N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 66, art. 51A, sections 66-505 to 66-510 (Session Law 2025-84)official session law text

In force since . Binds private bodies.

What this law does

Operators of websites and apps that publish pornographic images must verify, before publication, that every individual depicted was at least 18 when the image was created and gave explicit written consent to each act and to distribution, backed by a signed consent form and matching government-issued identification.

Operators must display removal instructions, remove images within 72 hours of a request from a depicted individual or law enforcement, and block removed images from re-publication; this regulates verification of people appearing in content rather than website visitors. The act was enacted over the Governor's veto on .

What it requires

Social media and minors

HB 301, social media and minors safety act

H.B. 301, 2025-2026 Session (General Assembly, as passed by both chambers in differing forms)official bill status and text

Proposed. proposed Not law. It binds no one unless it is enacted.

In reconciliation between two chambers, dated , as of . Binds private bodies.

What this law does

As passed by the House 106-6 in May 2025, the bill would bar children under 14 from holding social media accounts and require parental consent for 14 and 15 year olds, with age verification duties on platforms. The Senate passed a revised committee substitute 48-0 on , the House voted not to concur on , and a conference committee was appointed the next day to reconcile the versions.

What it requires

Where nothing was found1 area of law

These areas of law were researched here and no instrument was recorded. Each finding says what the research checked, as of the date under it. It describes our search, not a guarantee that no such law exists.

Reuse law

No North Carolina statute creates a press-publisher neighbouring right or a platform-to-publisher bargaining code, and no such bill has been identified in the sessions reviewed for this jurisdiction. No North Carolina case law establishing a state hot-news misappropriation doctrine has been located.

Snippet and headline reproduction, hyperlinking and framing, and text-and-data-mining are governed by federal copyright law alone; North Carolina adds no state-specific rule reaching a news aggregator's activity.

As of .

Case law

  • No current case law for North Carolina AI law
  • No current case law for North Carolina privacy law
  • No current case law for North Carolina scraping law
  • No current case law for North Carolina cybersecurity law
  • No current case law for North Carolina communications law
  • No current case law for North Carolina content moderation law
  • No current case law for North Carolina product and AI liability law
  • No current case law for North Carolina digital accessibility law
  • No current case law for North Carolina age gating law
  • No current case law for North Carolina reuse law

Reporting clocks that run here17 instruments

The instruments whose obligation lines set a deadline for reporting an incident, a vulnerability or a personal-data breach, each deadline read from the sentence that carries it and listed shortest first. The law of North Carolina comes first, then the law of the bodies above it that applies here.

Each flag is one law, and a link to it. Read down the scale: the clocks document's time axis, with the empty stretches shortened so the deadlines sit close. Flags on one line set the same duty at the same deadline, and the laws behind them are named to the right, with what each clock counts from.

1 hour
Incident notificationsecurity law
4 hours
Incident notificationsecurity law
8 hours
Incident notificationsecurity law
36 hours
72 hours
Breach notificationprivacy law
Safety-incident reportfrontier-model AI law
4 business days
Incident notificationsecurity law
5 business days
Incident notificationsecurity law
7 business days
Breach notificationprivacy law
30 days
Incident notificationsecurity law
Breach notificationprivacy law
Safety-incident reportfrontier-model AI law
60 days
Breach notificationprivacy law
The deadlines above on one time axis, shortest at the top. The axis keeps its order and, between neighbors, its proportion, but a stretch with no deadline on it is shortened, so the hour marks on the left are what say how far apart two stations really are. Beside each action, the laws that set it, what each counts from, and a status where the law is not yet in force. The List tab has the same data in full, with the sentences.

The law of North Carolina

The law of the United States, which applies in North Carolina

1 hour4 hours8 hours24 hours

NRC cyber security event notifications by nuclear power plant licensees

NRC cyber security event notifications, 10 CFR 73.77security law, in force since

The sentences the clocks are read from

Notify the NRC Headquarters Operations Center via the Emergency Notification System within one hour after discovery of a cyberattack that adversely impacted safety-related or important-to-safety functions, security functions, or emergency preparedness functions (including offsite communications), or that compromised support systems and equipment resulting in adverse impacts to those functions.

Also notify within one hour after discovery of a cyberattack that adversely impacted the safety, security, and emergency preparedness functions performed by digital assets described in 10 CFR 73.77(a)(1)(ii).

Notify the NRC Headquarters Operations Center within four hours after discovery of a cyberattack that could have caused such an adverse impact, after discovery of a suspected or actual cyberattack initiated by personnel with physical or electronic access to the systems in scope, or after notifying a local, State, or other Federal agency of an event related to your cyber security program that does not otherwise require notification.

Notify the NRC Headquarters Operations Center within eight hours after receipt or collection of information regarding observed behavior, activities, or statements that may indicate intelligence gathering or pre-operational planning related to a cyberattack against the systems in scope.

Use the site corrective action program to record vulnerabilities, weaknesses, failures and deficiencies in your cyber security program, and the notifications you make, within twenty-four hours of their discovery.

24 hours72 hours

Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA)

6 U.S.C. 681-681g (CIRCIA)security law, enacted, not yet in force

The sentences the clocks are read from

Once the final rule takes effect, report a covered cyber incident to the Agency not later than 72 hours after your organization reasonably believes that the covered cyber incident has occurred.

Once the final rule takes effect, report a ransom payment to the Agency not later than 24 hours after your organization makes the payment, even where the underlying ransomware attack is not itself a covered cyber incident.

Once the final rule takes effect, promptly submit an update to a previously submitted covered cyber incident report whenever substantial new or different information becomes available or a ransom payment is later made, continuing until your organization notifies the Agency that the incident has concluded and been fully mitigated and resolved, and preserve data relevant to the incident or payment under the procedures the final rule establishes.

24 hours5 business days30 days

SEC Regulation SCI: notification of SCI events to the Commission and to members

SEC Regulation SCI SCI event notices, 17 CFR 242.1002(b) and (c)security law, in force since

The sentences the clocks are read from

Upon any responsible SCI personnel having a reasonable basis to conclude that an SCI event has occurred, begin appropriate corrective action and notify the Commission of the SCI event immediately.

Within 24 hours of that conclusion, submit a written notification to the Commission, made on a good faith, best efforts basis, that describes the SCI event and the systems affected and, to the extent available, your assessment of the market participants potentially affected, the potential impact on the market, and the steps you have taken, are taking or plan to take.

If the SCI event is resolved and the investigation closed within 30 calendar days, submit a final written notification within five business days after resolution. If not, submit an interim written notification within 30 calendar days after the event, and a final one within five business days after resolution and closure.

36 hours

Computer-Security Incident Notification Requirements for Banking Organizations and Their Bank Service Providers

12 CFR Part 53 (OCC); 12 CFR Part 225, Subpart N (Federal Reserve Board); 12 CFR Part 304, Subpart C (FDIC)security law, in force since

The sentences the clocks are read from

If your organization is a banking organization, notify your primary federal banking regulator, the OCC, the Federal Reserve Board, or the FDIC, whichever supervises it, about a notification incident, as soon as possible and no later than 36 hours after your organization determines that a notification incident has occurred.

A notification incident is the subset of computer-security incidents that has materially disrupted or degraded, or is reasonably likely to materially disrupt or degrade, your ability to serve customers, a business line, or an operation whose failure would threaten the financial stability of the United States, so a computer-security incident that falls short of that threshold does not by itself start this clock.

If your organization is a bank service provider, notify at least one bank-designated point of contact at each affected banking organization customer as soon as possible after your organization determines that it has experienced a computer-security incident that has materially disrupted or degraded, or is reasonably likely to materially disrupt or degrade, covered services provided to that banking organization for a period of four hours or more.

This duty carries a standard, as soon as possible, rather than a fixed number of hours to notify by, and that disruption threshold is what engages the duty rather than a period to notify within.

72 hours30 days

Artificial Intelligence Risk Management and Security Act of 2026

S. 5576, 119th Congressfrontier-model AI law, proposed

The sentence the clocks are read from

If you are a developer or provider of a frontier AI model, or an operator of critical infrastructure that uses an AI model to manage industrial control systems or other operational technologies, report any confirmed AI safety incident or AI security incident within 30 days of confirmation, and within 72 hours if the incident poses an imminent threat to national security, critical infrastructure or public safety.

72 hours

NCUA Cyber Incident Notification Requirements for Federally Insured Credit Unions

NCUA Cyber Incident Notification Requirements, 12 CFR 748.1(c)security law, in force since

The sentences the clocks are read from

If your organization is a federally insured credit union, notify the NCUA-designated point of contact of a reportable cyber incident by email, telephone, or another method the NCUA prescribes, so that the NCUA receives the notification as soon as possible and no later than 72 hours after your organization reasonably believes it has experienced a reportable cyber incident.

Where the reportable cyber incident is a disruption of business operations or unauthorized access to sensitive data facilitated through, or caused by, a compromise of a credit union service organization, cloud service provider, or other third-party data hosting provider, or by a supply chain compromise, the NCUA must receive the notification within 72 hours of your organization being notified by the third party if that is sooner.

72 hours30 days

Regulation S-P: incident response program and customer breach notice

17 CFR 248.30(a)(3) to (a)(5)privacy law, in force since

The sentences the clocks are read from

Send the notice as soon as practicable, but not later than 30 days, after becoming aware that unauthorized access to or use of customer information has occurred or is reasonably likely to have occurred, delaying it only for the period the United States Attorney General specifies where the Attorney General determines that notice poses a substantial risk to national security or public safety (17 CFR 248.30(a)(4)(iii)).

Maintain written policies and procedures reasonably designed to require oversight, including through due diligence and monitoring, of service providers, including that a service provider notify you as soon as possible, and no later than 72 hours, after becoming aware of a breach in security resulting in unauthorized access to a customer information system it maintains (17 CFR 248.30(a)(5)(i)).

72 hours

SEC Regulation S-P: service provider oversight and 72-hour breach notice to the covered institution

SEC Regulation S-P service provider oversight and notice, 17 CFR 248.30(a)(5)security law, in force

The sentence the clocks are read from

Make those policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure that each service provider takes appropriate measures to protect against unauthorized access to or use of customer information, and to notify you as soon as possible, but no later than 72 hours after becoming aware that a breach in security has occurred resulting in unauthorized access to a customer information system the service provider maintains.

4 business days

SEC Cybersecurity Risk Management, Governance, and Incident Disclosure (Regulation S-K Item 106; Form 8-K Item 1.05)

17 CFR 229.106; 17 CFR 249.308 (Form 8-K Item 1.05)security law, in force since

The sentences the clocks are read from

If your organization is an Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting company, determine, without unreasonable delay after you discover a cybersecurity incident, whether the incident is material, and if it is, file a Form 8-K under Item 1.05 within four business days after you make that determination.

If the information called for in Item 1.05 is not determined or is unavailable when you file, state that in the filing and file an amendment to the Form 8-K within four business days after you determine it or it becomes available.

7 business days30 days

FCC CPNI breach notification rule

47 CFR 64.2011privacy law, in force

The sentences the clocks are read from

After you reasonably determine that a breach of your customers' CPNI has occurred, electronically notify the United States Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation through the central reporting facility as soon as practicable, and in no event later than seven business days (47 CFR 64.2011(b)).

Do not notify customers or disclose the breach where the relevant investigating agency directs you in writing not to, for an initial period of up to 30 days that the agency may extend (47 CFR 64.2011(b)(3)).

60 days

FTC Health Breach Notification Rule

16 CFR Part 318privacy law, in force since

The sentences the clocks are read from

If you are a vendor of personal health records (an entity that offers or maintains an electronic record of health information that can draw information from multiple sources and is managed, shared and controlled by or primarily for the individual) or a PHR related entity, notify each affected individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States, in plain language and without unreasonable delay, no later than 60 calendar days after you discover a breach of security of unsecured PHR identifiable health information.

Notify prominent media outlets serving a State or jurisdiction, without unreasonable delay and in no case later than 60 calendar days after you discover the breach, when the unsecured PHR identifiable health information of 500 or more of its residents is, or is reasonably believed to have been, acquired during the breach.

If you are a third party service provider, notify the official designated in a written contract by the vendor of personal health records or PHR related entity you serve (or else a senior official of that vendor or entity), without unreasonable delay and in no case later than 60 calendar days after you discover the breach; identify each customer of that vendor or entity whose unsecured PHR identifiable health information has been, or is reasonably believed to have been, acquired during the breach; and obtain acknowledgment that the notice was received.

60 days

HIPAA Breach Notification Rule

45 CFR Part 164, Subpart D (Sections 164.400-164.414)privacy law, in force since

The sentences the clocks are read from

Notify affected individuals without unreasonable delay and no later than 60 days after discovering a breach of unsecured protected health information.

For a breach of unsecured protected health information involving more than 500 residents of a State or jurisdiction, notify prominent media outlets serving that State or jurisdiction without unreasonable delay and in no case later than 60 calendar days after discovery of the breach.

If you are a business associate, notify the covered entity of a breach of unsecured protected health information without unreasonable delay and in no case later than 60 calendar days after discovery of the breach.

promptly

CFTC system safeguards: prompt notice to Commission staff of cyber security incidents and targeted threats

CFTC system safeguards notices, 17 CFR 39.18(g), 38.1051(e) and 37.1401(e)security law, in force since

The sentences the clocks are read from

If your organization is a derivatives clearing organization, notify staff of the Division of Clearing and Risk promptly of any hardware or software malfunction, security incident, or targeted threat that materially impairs, or creates a significant likelihood of material impairment of, automated system operation, reliability, security, or capacity, and of any activation of your business continuity and disaster recovery plan.

If your organization is a designated contract market, notify Commission staff promptly of all cyber security incidents or targeted threats that actually or potentially jeopardize automated system operation, reliability, security, or capacity, as well as electronic trading halts and significant systems malfunctions and activations of your business continuity-disaster recovery plan.

If your organization is a swap execution facility, notify Commission staff promptly of all cyber security incidents or targeted threats that actually or potentially jeopardize automated system operation, reliability, security, or capacity, as well as electronic trading halts and material system malfunctions and activations of your business continuity-disaster recovery plan.

immediately

Coast Guard Cybersecurity in the Marine Transportation System: reportable cyber incidents

Coast Guard reportable cyber incident reporting, 33 CFR 101.620(b)(7) and 101.615security law, in force since

The sentence the clocks are read from

Evidence of sabotage, subversive activity, or an actual or threatened cyber incident involving or endangering any vessel, harbor, port, or waterfront facility must be reported immediately to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (for any cyber incident), and the Captain of the Port, or to their respective representatives.

Which of these one incident starts turns on the facts: the incident method works that through. The clocks document draws every clock in the LexLint law library on one axis, with the sentence beside every rung.

Drafted with AI

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page. How this site is made

This page covers the instruments LexLint has researched to a stage. Instruments named in the law library but not yet researched are counted in the head and are not listed here. Every entry carries its own primary source on its note page. This is a research index, not legal advice.